


A Simple Get-together

by cinimini16, WingedLadyColette



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Crack, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-03-06 12:24:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3134390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinimini16/pseuds/cinimini16, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingedLadyColette/pseuds/WingedLadyColette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is what happens when a bunch of idiots get together in a basement. (A Naruto fanfiction)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fiday Night

"Guys, pizza!" Naruto dashed down the stairs to the basement, as quickly and as carefully as he possibly could while balancing a stack of pizza boxes in his hands. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and flocked around the table, squeezing onto couches and chairs, as Naruto set down the boxes and propped the lids open. Steam wafted outward in a delicious, mouth-watering cloud; Hinata began passing out paper plates even as people were reaching for their prospective slices.

"I want some of the pepperoni!"

"Can someone pass me one of the mushroom and peppers?"

"Hey, I wanted that one!"

"Would you guys please be civil about this? Goodness!" Sakura rolled her eyes. Once everyone was satisfied with their bounty and munching contentedly, Kiba broke the silence.

"So, what's the plan for tonight? Movie, cards, video games?" He slipped Akamaru a slice of crust as he spoke, and the rather large dog barked his approval. 

"We've done all those already," Shikamaru sighed, slouching in his chair. He fiddled with his short ponytail and looked extremely bored, as usual.

"Yeah, let's do something new." Tenten perched on one of the couch's armrests, knee propped up to support her chin while the other swung rhythmically back and forth. 

"Well..." Shisui tapped his finger against his lips; Itachi cast him a sidelong glance, black eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I don't like that look you're getting," he said. 

Shisui failed to keep a grin off his face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What's your idea, Shisui?" Sasuke pushed his plate away; Sakura immediately offered to throw it away for him, to which he tried his best to politely refuse. Across the room Ino glared at the pink-haired girl. Her rather desperate attempts to garner poor Sasuke's attention disgusted her; she was obviously the better choice for him...he was just being slow to realize it. Oh, well. Better later rather than never. 

"How about truth or dare?" 

Immediately the room filled with of chorus of both excited "yes"s and horrified "no"s. 

"Aw, come on, guys! It sounds like fun!" Kiba, one of the few boys that agreed with Shisui's proposal, encouraged. 

"Guys, Itachi, Sai, Temari, Kankuro and I only have this weekend before we go back to the University. I wanna do something fun!" Shisui pouted. 

"I'm all for it, I've never played before," Sai said in his typical monotone. 

"No." Gaara's monosyllabic, calm response was expected by everyone, but his older brother Kankuro wasn't having any of it. 

"Come on, Gaara, lighten up a bit! You don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with." 

The quiet redhead didn't look at all persuaded. While Kankuro continued in his efforts, Shisui went around the group to take a vote.

"Yes!" Ino said enthusiastically. This could finally be her chance to kiss Sasuke, on the chance that someone dared her to do so. However slim those chances were, she wouldn't run the risk of missing out on it. 

"Count me in!" Sakura said, for the exact same reason. The arch-enemies locked eyes in a heavy glare.

"Same here," Tenten waved.

Hinata looked down at the floor, her dark blue hair falling over one shoulder. "Um...sure, I guess."

Shino pushed his glasses farther up his nose. "Sure, I'm interested in partaking in this game. Why, you may ask? Well, because--"

"Shut up, Shino," Kiba said jokingly. Shino turned his head to look at his best friend without a word, then adjusted his glasses and looked away again.

"Of course, I'd love to play!" Lee said with barely contained enthusiasm. "After all, we must enjoy these youthful games while we still can!" 

"Speaking of youth," Neji said from beside him, "I can feel mine being sucked away as we tool around just trying to decide who's playing or not."

Shisui barked out a laugh. "Yeah, that Shikamaru," he said, throwing his voice down a octive, "what a tool he is! With a huge pineapple-shaped head and no common courtesy to fill it!" Shikamaru whipped his head around so hard Naruto cringed, wondering if he had almost broken his neck, to glare at Shisui.

"Well that was fucking rude," he snorted indignant, glaring at the cackling black haired boy. "And for your information; I do have common courtesy--"

"Could've fooled me," Ino interjected, to which she was promptly ignored by Shikamaru.

"--I just choose not to use it! And by the way, I don't have a huge head. It's average size," he finished off.

Sai turned his head to the side, a thoughtful look on his face. "So you aren't disputing the fact that your head is the shape of a pinapple?"

"No," Shikamaru sighed, letting his head lean back against the couch. "Because 'pineapple-shaped heads'" he said, putting air quotes around the words, "are hereditary on my dad's side and, unfortunately, irrefutable."

Kiba groaned far louder than need be, earning an annoyed look from Sasuke, "Oh my god, Shikamaru, shut your god damn face before I shut it for you!"

Shikamaru gave Kiba a droll look, rolling his head around to stare at the slitted-pupil-ed boy. "What are you going to do, Kiba? Sick your dog me? And by the way, you're on my shit list now."

Kiba glared playfully, reaching down to affectionately stroke the top of Akamaru's head. "Oh yeah? Isn't everyone on your shit list?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru said, slouching down in his seat.

"Even Choji?" Tenten asked, thin brown eyebrows arched.

"Especially Choji," Shikamaru grumbles.

Pausing half way through his fifth slice of pizza, Choiji looked over at his best friend with raised eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"

Now Shikamaru groaned far louder than need be, causing Kiba to roll his eyes and Naruto to snicker. "God damnit, Tenten, he wasn't suppose to know!"

Tenten looked back at him completely confused. "Wait, what? The hell did I do wrong?"

"So selfish," Lee said, shaking his head jokingly. He grinned broadly at her when she glared at him.

"Not that this wasn't completely how I wanted to spend my friday night," Gaara said after a moment of silence between Tenten glaring at Lee and Choji glaring at Shikamaru who was glaring at a still cacking Shisui, who then slapped an annoyed Itachi on the back that earned him a painful right hook to the shoulder. Shisui pouted and scooted as far away from his best friend as the cramped space on the couch would allow.

"But," Gaara continued, pale green eyes watching the scene play out for a moment before continuing, "could we get this going?"

"Agreed," Neji said, running a hand through long brown hair. Sasuke waves his hand around to show he second that notion.

"Very well," Itachi said, playing his glare from his sheepishly grinning cousin to look around the room. "Did everyone vote?"

There was a mixed chorus of "yes"s and "no"s.

"Okay," Naruto said, completely ignoring the "no" half of the room, including himself, "let's do this!"

"Don't I get a say?" Sai asked, looking over at the spiky blond haired boy next to him. Naruto looked back at him and leaned in very close and scoffed really loud. Sasuke, on Naruto's other side, cringed at the noise while Sai seems unaffected.

"No," Naruto said after a long moment of staring into Sai's eyes, "you don't."

"Okay," Sai said.

"And on a totally unrelated note-" Naruto started.

"If that's the case don't continue," Neji warned, glaring at the blond with clear white eyes.

Naruto continued as if he didn't hear the Hyuga, "-you have beautiful eyes." Sasuke groaned, slapping his palm against his forehead loud enough for Sakura and Ino to both cringe and Akamaru to jump awake from his slumber to look around confused.

Sai stared back into the blond's blue eyes for a long, drawn out moment. Sasuke rolled his own eyes grumbling something about Naruto being "a stupid idiot" before Sai, as stoically as ever, replied, "Thank you."

"On that slightly homoerotic note, can we start playing now?" Shisui looked around at the group, each displaying various facial expressions ranging from apathetic to excited to blatantly disgusted. When no one protested, to his slight surprise, Shisui clapped his hands together. "All right, who goes first?"

"Well, since you suggested it, why don't you go first?" Sasuke asked with growing impatience. "Or at least pick someone."

"All righty, then," his cousin replied cheerfully. "Hinata, since you've been ever-so vocal, why don't you go first?"

Hinata's serene expression turned to one of complete horror. "W-what? Why me?"

"Come on, Hinata, truth or dare?" Naruto encouraged. The pale girl's cheeks flushed a delicate pink; she averted her gaze from the unruly blond, focusing instead on Shisui while wringing her hands in her lap. 

"Uh, I really don't think--"

"Truth or dare?" Shisui echoed firmly.

Hinata looked around helplessly, as though hoping someone would interject and save her from what she knew to be impending humiliation. When no such help came, she bit her lower lip and continued to rub her hands nervously. 

"Truth," she finally squeaked out.

"Are you sure?" Naruto leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. 

Shisui shook his head, clicking his tongue in disapproval. "Are you sure you want to do that, Hinata? I really think choosing 'dare' would be better for you."

"Yeah, come out of the box a little," Tenten encouraged. 

"Umm..." The poor girl's nervousness was becoming more evident with each passing second. "I really think I want--"

"Dare? Okay!" Shisui clapped his hands together, and before Hinata could even begin to protest further he said, "I dare you, in the least perverted way possible, to take off your jacket and leave it off for the rest of the night."

Hinata's expression of horror only deepened. "I-I-I'm not wearing anything underneath m-my jacket," she stammered in protest.

"You're a horrible liar, Hina," Shisui laughed. "You wear the most amount of layers I've ever seen. You wear, what, a tank top and a sweater under that thing?"

Itachi turned to look at his best friend and raised one brow. "And just how would you know that, you creepy bastard?" Sasuke snorted the Pepsi he was drinking and had to turn away gagging, trying to breathe.

"I have never heard you curse before," Naruto said, looking at Itachi with wide blue eyes, laughing a bit. Then an annoyed look crossed his face and looked back at his choking best friend and whacked him hard in the back, jolting him slightly. Sasuke hissed at the rough treatment as Naruto said, "Stop being a drama queen."

"I fucking hate you," the youngest of the Uchiha in the room grumbled, falling back into his seat and nudging his pop away, showing no more interest in it. 

Hinata hesitated a moment longer before finally unzipping her jacket and shrugging it off, folding it neatly in her lap. "All right, Hinata, good job!" Lee enthused, his black bowl-cut shaking a bit as he nodded. Still blushing, Hinata only looked down at her jacket. 

"Your turn now, Hinata," Shisui coaxed. 

She glanced up, again looking unsure. "Um...Kiba, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" the boy said instantly.

Hinata paused for a moment, trying to think of something that wouldn't make the group pick on her some more. "I dare you...to act like a cat for the next turn."

The room was filled with snorts of laughter, and now it was Kiba who wore the expression of horrified shock. But he nonetheless consented to the dare and began meowing unhappily, to which Naruto, Shisui, Kankuro, and Lee laughed even harder, falling onto one another. 

"Tenten, truth or dare?" Kiba said, pausing in his cat-like mannerisms. 

"Dare," she said calmly. Her response was met with some collective "ooh"s of suspense, but Tenten's expression did not change. 

"I dare you to burp as loud as you possibly can." More laughter ensued.

Tenten looked affronted, brown eyes widening a bit. "Excuse me?"

"No, excuse you," Kankuro snickered, and the laughter only intensified. Gaara shook his head at his brother's poor joke. 

"That's disgusting, Kiba." Tenten folded her arms indignantly.

"Oh, come on," he said with a wave of his hand that he had just paused to lick. "Don't be such a girl. Do it!"

The last few words seemed to resonate in Tenten; without a word she reached over Sasuke, grabbed his Pepsi, and proceeded to down the remaining contents, which turned out to be a little over half of the bottle. Sasuke merely arched his brows at the unceremonious seizing of his property. This girl always did had some nerve. 

"Go ahead, it's not like I didn't want the rest of that," he quipped dryly. 

Tenten ignored him and only screwed her face up in concentration. The room was silent with suspense; finally Tenten opened her mouth, and the burp that came from her throat seemed to rattle the glass of the coffee table itself. It lasted more than a few seconds before she closed her mouth and sat back, crossing her legs with satisfaction. 

"Damn," Naruto said, breaking the silence that ensued. 

"Damn is right," Kiba said, finally dropping the cat impersonations with obvious relief. "Never knew you had it in you, Tenten."

"I give it a ten out of ten," Lee joked, and the room was filled with groans. Shikamaru leaned over and smacked his friend upside the help with barely-contained disgust. 

"All right, my turn." Tenten let her brown eyes roam over the group, carefully deciding her next victim. Her eyes landed on the young, lazy Nara leaning against the couch next to Shino's feet. "Shika..."

"No," he said, narrowing hawk-like eyes.

Tenten smiled coyly. "Truth or dare?"

"Fuck me. Dare," Shikamaru sighed, sitting up a bit more attentively.

Tenten leaned back in her seat, her leg brushing Sasuke's shoulder when she crosses it over her other one. She reached down and patted his shoulder in apology before she leaned back and cupped her chin. She hummed thoughtfully. "I dare you to go the rest of the night without saying the words: troublesome, annoying, and drag."

People "ooh"ed appreciatively, which made Tenten smile and Shikamaru glare, annoyed.

"Damn you," he muttered, slouching back into his seat. "This is so-"

"Shikamaru!" Choji called out warning, making Tenten's victorious grin spread a bit wider. Shikamaru looked at his best friend for a moment before he looked back over at Tenten.

"This,' he gestured around them, "is so irksome."

Shino tilted his head slightly. "Now you've done it, Tenten."

"Seriously," Temari said, crossing her long legs and placing her hands neatly on her lap. "Now he's just going to have something else to bitch and moan about for the rest of the time here."

"You're welcome," Tenten said, laughing. "Your turn, Shikamaru."

The lazy genius lets out a whoosh of breath, looking around the room. "Huh...let's see. Lee, truth or dare?"

The overly energetic boy immediately straightened up in his chair. "Well, I should think the answer is quite obvious! Dare! Do your worst, Shikamaru!"

"Oh, believe me, I will," Shikamaru replied with a small smirk. "I dare you to go into the bathroom and let Ino spike your hair, and leave it that way for the entire night."

Lee looked appalled. "I could never shame my teacher's wonderful haircut! Never!" He reached up his hands to smooth down his glossy locks, as if to make sure they were still there. 

"Oh, stop your bitching and do it, Lee," Kiba snorted among the cackles filling the room. With an increasingly pained expression, Lee trudged up the stairs at Sasuke's direction with Ino close behind. 

"He better not touch any of my stuff," the younger Uchiha muttered.

Itachi raised one eyebrow. "You got something to hide in there, little brother?"

"Ooh, I bet Sasuke has porno mags!" The look Sasuke sent Naruto, if it could kill, would have reduced the wily Uzumaki to a pile of ash on the floor. 

"You're so gross, Naruto," Sakura huffed. Shisui leaned over to whisper something in Itachi's ear; the latter chuckled low in his throat while Shisui pressed a hand over his mouth to smother his snickers. 

"You got something to say, Shisui?" Sakura sprang to her feet, hand up ready to deliver a punch to the older Uchiha. Her jade eyes seemed to burn. "Come on, now, don't be shy!"

Shisui held up his hands in a gesture of "whoa, hold up" and tried to cease in his laughter. "It wasn't about you, Sakura." The lie was a shitty one on all accounts, and everyone knew it.

"So help me, I'll knock your teeth so far down your throat you'll be shitting them out for weeks!" Sakura made to deliver what everyone knew to be a hard hit, but the sound of Rock Lee's voice stopped her.

"Don't laugh," he said sullenly. Ino stood behind him, hands smothering her amusement at her handiwork. Lee's raven hair stuck up at all angles atop his head; it looked as though she had combined elements of both Naruto and Sasuke's hair in some bizarre lovechild. For a few moments they only stared before bursting out in fits of laughter.

"Oh--my--god!" Temari gasped out, clutching her stomach. 

"It's beautiful!" Shisui collapsed onto Itachi while the latter shook with silent laughter. Even Sasuke couldn't hide his amusement. Gaara only shook his head, while Sai smiled his awkward smile. 

Hinata, in between giggles, said, "I think it suites you, Lee."

"I said not to laugh," he whined. He reached up to try to smooth the gel-coated hair back down, but Ino swatted his hand away.

"You took the dare, mister." She tossed her long blond hair with satisfaction and took a bow, proud of her work. 

"Well, in that case," Lee said, putting his hands on his hips with a stern expression. "Ino, truth or dare?"

The blond straightened up from her bow with a look of surprise. "Uh..." She cast a look at Sakura, narrowed her eyes, and replied, "Dare."

"I dare you to kiss Gaara. Doesn't matter where."

Ino's blue-green eyes widened. The room immediately fell silent. Temari and Kankuro exchanged looks, then glanced at their red-headed brother seated calmly on the floor. Gaara made no sudden movements, resolving only to remain in his cross-legged position, back straight, hands resting on his thighs. 

After a moment he lifted his eyes to Lee and said, in the most serious voice possible, "I will end you."

Lee swallowed hard, but maintained his resolve. "A dare is a dare. Go on, Ino."

Looking more than a little frightened, Ino lowered herself onto her knees before Gaara. The redhead only looked directly ahead as she leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before scooting back to her seat on the floor. 

"That was intense," Kiba whispered to Naruto. The blond nodded wordlessly, for once.

"Sakura, truth or dare?" Ino asked after a brutal silence.

Sakura straightened up and defiantly replied, "Dare." There was no way she was backing down from Ino, of all people, but she quickly realized the mistake she made when Ino grinned wickedly.

"I dare you to sit on Lee--no, Shisui's lap for the next turn," she said. The room broke out into a mixture of hoots and catcalls.

"Ooh, baby!" Shisui waggled his eyebrows while Sakura looked murderous. But she nonetheless stood up, strode over to the goofy Uchiha, and planted herself in his crossed legs. 

"Touch anything, and you lose a hand," she ground out through clenched teeth. Ino was beside herself with laughter, clutching her sides. Lee scowled at the missed opportunity to get up close and personal to the sassy Haruno, but resolved that he would get his chance later into the game if it was the last thing he did.

"Sasuke," Sakura said once the laughter had died down. "Truth or dare?"

The younger Uchiha lifted his onyx gaze with a look that was far from amused. "Uh...truth."

"Ooh, and the streak is broken!" Kankuro announced. 

"Yeah, let it be known that Sasuke was the first one to take the coward's way out," joked Shisui with a smirk. Sasuke closed his eyes slowly, obviously trying to keep his temper in check, before opening them again and looking at Sakura. 

"If you had to kiss any girl in the room right now, who would it be?" A faint blush touched her cheeks. She locked eyes with Ino and tried her best to look intimidating, but her heart was fluttering like a caged bird inside her chest. 

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. "You have got to be kidding me," he said. He looked around at all the females present--Temari, Tenten, Hinata, Ino, Sakura--and sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

"I dunno," he said after a brief moment, shrugging. "Probably Tenten. She's got more balls than most of the guys in here."

Kiba, Shisui, Shikamaru, Naruto, Lee, and Choji exploded into laughter.

"He does have a point," Itachi conceded.

Tenten smiled, looking proud of herself, while the other girls (excluding Hinata, who only had eyes for Naruto as everyone already knew) looked more than a little miffed. Sakura sprang out from Shisui's lap and returned to her seat on the couch. But before they could begin arguing among themselves, Sasuke spoke up above the cacophony. 

"Naruto, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" the blond declared. 

Sasuke allowed himself a triumphant smile. "I dare you to give Lee a foot rub for the next turn." 

"Aww, Sasuke, come on!" Naruto whined as laughter erupted once again. Gaara actually wrinkled his nose in disgust as Lee removed his shoes and extended his legs in Naruto's direction. With a nauseated expression, Naruto willed himself to touch Lee's feet and began rubbing them lightly, trying to come into as little contact as possible.

"Oh, this is awesome," Shikamaru chuckled; the lazy genius had taken out his phone and begun filming. Naruto shot him a murderous glare and paused in his massage to flip him off. 

"All right, my turn," he said after a moment. "Hmm...let's see. Temari, truth or dare?"

"Truth, thanks," the older girl replied loftily, bouncing one foot in the air. 

Naruto grinned widely. "What color are your panties?"

Choji choked a bit on his drink while Kiba snorted loudly; Gaara and Kankuro narrowed their eyes at the young Uzumaki. Hinata's pale lavender eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Sakura, enraged, reached over and slapped Naruto as hard as she could upside the head. 

"Pervert!" she yelled. Shisui hid his face in his hands, shoulders shaking with laughter. 

"Oww!" Naruto winced, reaching up to rub the affected area. "Damn, Sakura, take it easy!"

Temari lazily drew the waistband of her jeans back, completely at ease. "Let's see...black and white polka dots." 

Naruto immediately scooted away from Lee and dashed away to the bathroom, presumably to wash his hands. Shikamaru stopped his recording with a satisfied snort. He turned his phone off and smiled around the room in satisfaction.

"Those two embarrassing moments will be caught in history forever when I put this on the internet," he said, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

"You wouldn't dare," Gaara said, narrowing his eyes at the shirker. Naruto walked back into the room, plopping back down next to Sasuke.

"Yeah, dude," Kankuro said, leaning down to pull the bottoms of his pant legs down over his ankles, smoothing them out before he returned his gaze to the brown haired genius. "I mean come on, she's our sister. This is about honor." Sasuke snorted loudly at that.

"No skin off my nose, besides, I didn't even turn the camera on her," Shikamaru defended himself. That was enough for Kankuro to let it drop but Gaara still looked annoyed.

Temari rolled her eyes, not nearly as concerned about her "honor" as her two younger brothers seemed to be. "So my turn?" Her eyes scanned the crowd, searching for someone who hadn't gone yet. "Choji, truth or dare?"

Choji reached up and rubbed his long bushy cinnamon brown hair. "Um, truth?"

She arched a manicured blond eyebrow. "Is that a question or an answer?" She grinned when he blushed a little, not liking the sudden attention.

"Answer?"

She accepted that. "Um... excluding Shikamaru," the lazy Nara raised an eyebrow and he and Choji shared a quick curious look before they looked back over at Temari, "who would you more likely date in this room?"

Ino's hand went flying up to her lips with a loud slap, trying to smother the loud bark of a laugh that ripped free of her. Naruto's face twisted into a look of barely contained laughter. Choji's face turned bright red at that.

"Um..." he mumbled, looking around the room at all the other faces. He then reached up and ruffled his hair again. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," Temari said, tapping ruby red nails against her cheek, waiting patiently.

"Then..." he rubbed his chin, looking completely embarrassed. His cheeks are splashed with bright pink. "Um, I would probably... date Hinata..." He shrunk beneath everyone's gaze and Hinata blushed deeply. "I mean, I've never met another girl like Hinata, that's completely nonjudgmental. I'm not exactly..." he waved his hands around ambiguously. "I'm not handsome like Sasuke or grow on you like Shikamaru. Hinata loves people for personality." He shrugged his shoulders again, shrinking even more.

Hinata smiled kindly, light lavender colored eyes stared back at him. "Thank you, Choji. I'm so flattered."

"Oh shit," Kiba whispered harshly, eyes wide. "We just entered a feels mine zone. Watch your feet!" Ino glared at the messy brown haired boy. He grinned back at her jokingly, his eyes conveyed that he was just trying to lighten the mood. Ino's sudden hostility died down a bit in understanding.

Choji nodded, ignoring Kiba, then looked around the room. He smiled over at his best friend when Shikamaru bumped him with his shoulder. Shikamaru wasn't a man of a lot of physical affection but that was something that he did to show people that he was on their side. It didn't seem like much to people on the outside looking in, but it was to those that knew.

"So," Choji said, turning away from Shikamaru to look around the room. He looked as though a tremendous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "Shino, truth or dare?"

The insect loving teen, stared back at Choji behind his black shades, a completely expressionless look on his face. "I choose dare. Why, you may wonder? Because I, too, like to live on the edge."

Naruto raspberried loudly, while Sasuke rolled his eyes. Itachi gave both of them a solid, even stare that told them to keep their mouths shut. Both back down from the second oldest in the room. Pleased, he looked back over at Choji who paused momentarily to watch the exchange and nodded for him to continue.

Choji returned his attention to the awaiting Shino and thought carefully. "I dare you to..." he trailed off, lost in thought before a very un-Choji-like smile crossed his face. Shikamaru raised his eyebrows at the sudden shift in his best friend's demeanor. "I dare you to proclaim your ever lasting love to Shisui in a very believable and flattering way."

"Yes!" Shisui said loudly, making Itachi jump from the sudden boom of his voice in the long haired boy's ear. "I've been waiting all evening for this!" Sasuke's eyerbows pulled tightly together and his eyes widened as he stared at the eldest from across the room. Itachi pressed his lips together into a fine line.

"What?" Sasuke asked, incredulously.

"What?" Shisui fired back immediately, feigning confusion. Sai looked between them, eyes wide, absorbing the information.

Neji stared at the look of childish wonder on Sai's face and sighed exasperatedly. "Wonderful," he muttered as if the entire situation brought him physical pain.

Gaara, the only one to seemingly hear the elder of the two Hyuga in the room, turned a bit to look at him inquisitively. "What?" he asked after a moment of silence. Neji jerked his chin and Gaara followed it with his eyes in Sai's direction, taking another moment to fully understand what the Hyuga was refering to. When he did a little "oh, fuck" escaped him.

The two shared a look that could only be interpreted as: When Sai's turn comes around we are all screwed.


	2. Strange Developements

Shisui fluttered his eyelashes in what appeared to be an attempt at being seductive, but all he got in response were Shikamaru and Choji rolling their eyes and Shino staring blankly in return. Neji and Gaara shared exasperated looks before looking back over at Sai as he watched the scene play out in complete oblivious, childish wonder.

Shino climbed to his feet and the room fell into dead silence; everyone watched with rapt attention as the normally silent, stoic, if not kind of awkward teen, made his way over to the eldest in the room and stood over him, stock still, staring down at the Uchiha from behind his black shades.

After a moment of silent debate, Shino slowly lowered himself to the coffee table that both Shisui and Itachi had their feet propped up on. Shisui moved his feet on top of Itachi's to make room. The younger of the two looked a little repulsed by the action and spread his legs a bit so they would fall between his on the table without their feet actually touching.

Sasuke smirked a little; that was how one got his brother. He hated feet more than Naruto.

Shisui didn't seem to notice the motion, his full attention rested on the boy perched at the edge of the coffee table.

"Shisui," Shino said suddenly.

Shisui smiled and in a light, airy voice answered, "Yes?" He batted his eyelashes and gave a high-pitched, grotesque giggle that made everyone cringe. Shikamaru mimed puking onto the floor; Tenten prodded him with her foot reproachfully.

Shino paused for a moment before leaning forward and taking Shisui's hands and held them tightly between his own. Shisui looked barely able to hold back a fit of laughter. Akamaru perked up and watched them as well.

"Shisui, I know, beyond that goofy exterior, you are a kind and caring and loving individual," he started out. "I don't know if I'm the only one lucky enough to notice the real you deep beneath this farce you try desperately to show us, or if perhaps you are just unaware of just how wonderfully beautiful you are, both inside and outside."

Shisui's tight smile faded and he adopted a look of awe. Ino, Kiba, Sakura, Naruto, Sai and Hinata all stared at the two with eyes wide and mouths hanging open. Itachi glanced between them, looking as if embarrassed about watching something that seemed so personal. Then a look of confusion crossed his face and he shook his head as if to force certain thoughts away. Shino and Shisui seemed oblivious to the rest of the people in the room.

"But I want you to know," he continued, "before all our friends, that even if they can't see that beauty, I can. And somehow, I think I've always been able to. It's your best and most unappreciated quality. I want you to know that I noticed it, and have loved you with all my heart from the moment I did. And probably will until the day I die." A pause, then, he reached up with one hand and slowly removed his glasses to stare deeply into Shisui's black eyes with his own dark brown ones. "I promise."

There was a long, pregnant pause. Everyone just alternated between looking at the calm, but obviously affectionate Shino, and the stunned, but flattered Shisui. No one seemed to know what to say. Itachi, the closest to the two, blinked slowly, trying to absorb this new-found information on the strange enigmatic young man: Shino Aburame.

"I wish someone would talk to me like that," Temari finally said, breaking the silence. She made a show of fanning herself.

Shikamaru glared at her. "Shut up, whore."

Gaara jerked from his shock to glare at Shikamaru. "Hey--"

"You pay me to suck your dick," Temari said simply, making Gaara and Kankuro cringe, "so you're the whore."

Shikamaru scoffed, then pause, face screwing up in confusion. "Wait what? How does that make me...?" He pointed to himself, as if the information did not compute. Choji cringed, ducking his head down to try and avoid being caught in the cross fire of the two younger siblings' soon to be blood fest.

"Moving on--" Itachi said, trying to ease the mounting tension between the Sabaku brothers and the soon to be dead Nara.

"No," Kakuro said, standing up, also glaring down at Shikamaru. "We are flooring this. What the hell does that mean? Do you really do that, Temari?"

The elder sister turned to look at them, completely unfazed by what was going on, much to Shikamaru's ire. "So what if I do? Why do you want to know? Tell me, brother, why the sudden interest in my sex life? Is it that it's with Shikamaru that bothers you?"

"I'm not sure I needed to hear this," Neji muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Naruto snickered. "Are you kidding me? This is great!"

"Wait--" Shikamaru started but Temari continued, as if she didn't hear.

"Is it the fact that I'm having sex that bothers you?" she asked, face completely calm.

"Temari--" Kankuro started as well, but was also interrupted.

"Or could it be that you're bothered by learning about it now? I'm a grown ass woman in college. What the hell would I be doing? You know, other than guys?" Temari asked with a shrug.

"And the occasional girl, right?" Kiba asked innocently before getting a fierce whack on the back of the head by both Sakura and Ino.

Temari opened her mouth, about to deny it, before she shrugged. "Well, there was that one time..." She shook her head. "Never mind. Come on, guys, you shouldn't be so surprised." Most of the guys stared back at her with new-found admiration.

Kiba pounded his fists to his chest solemnly, nodding up at Temari. "Respect, girl, respect." That earned him another whack from both girls. Temari just rolled her eyes.

"Moving on," Itachi repeated, more firmly this time.

"Wait," Shisui said, as Shino finally moved back to his seat, "I need to ask, Temari, if such a thing happens again..." he paused, leaning forward.

"Speak another word and you're dead," Kankuro growled.

"Can you, and I mean this literally, can you film and send it to me?" Shisui asked in all seriousness. Gaara snarled a bit but Itachi was quicker and pulled his best friend close.

"Listen to me closely, Shisui," Itachi said with a slight hiss to the edge of his voice, eyes narrowing dangerously. "You are going to redact what you said for the sake of the women in the room, and you are going to obediently wait your turn and then you are never going to ask that stupid ass question again. Was there any part of that that was unclear?" Itachi stared at Shisui with the promise of unending torture in his eyes before the eldest nodded, a look of near unconfined horror on his face. Itachi sure was scary. "Good."

"U-Um..." Hinata said softly. "It's your turn t-to go... Shino..."

Itachi released the older man, slowly relaxing back into the couch with a look of warning. Sasuke grinned. It was a typical thing from his brother. Ever the considerate one. Perhaps for both the offended parties and for Shisui's sake, as the murderous look in Gaara's eyes seemed to have disappeared.

"Kankuro," Shino said. "Truth or dare?"

The elder Sabaku didn't even blink. "Truth." Temari arched one brow but said nothing.

"Aww, come on!" Shisui pouted. "You're no fun, man." When all he received was a warning stare from Kankuro, he huffed and held his hands up in a gesture of "I surrender."

Shino adjusted his sunglasses. "Hm...this will require some thought."

Sakura chose this moment to sidle a bit closer to Sasuke, lightly grazing his arm. The raven-haired boy neither reciprocated nor moved away, which Sakura took as a good sign. She caught Ino's nasty stare from across the room and smirked. 

"Those two will never quit, huh?" Temari remarked to Tenten. 

The latter shrugged, observing the exchange with mild interest. "And here I thought they'd decided to get along better."

"Huh, I'll believe that when I see it," Kiba snorted. 

"Kankuro, have you ever had sex?" Shino finally asked. Temari burst into laughter while Gaara looked more than a little perturbed. Kankuro blinked, as if the question was having difficulty registering. 

"Uh..." he looked around nervously. "Well, I really don't see how that's important--"

"He means no," his elder sister chuckled, rolling her eyes. 

Kankuro looked extremely offended. He glared up at his older sister. "I have too had sex!" he exclaimed, indignant.

"It's not real if it's in your head," Shikamaru remarked, earning a glare from the middle Sabaku boy.

"Yeah," Naruto said, shaking his head. "I don't believe it either."

Kankuro scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, you should," he said smugly, "because I did, and she was pretty." He practically glowed with pride.

Naruto's nose crinked a bit. "But you're so ugly! Who'd do you?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru said, sitting up a bit more. "You know, other than Naruto's mom?"

"Hey!"

"All right, everyone, settle down," Kiba said, making a "quiet down" motion with his hands. "Today's discussion is not about who Naruto's mother would or wouldn't do, although I doubt there's a single male in the room who would deny that she is pretty hot."

"I'll kill you, dog breath," Naruto snarled, jumping to his feet.

Sasuke grabbed the feisty Uzumaki by the back of his shirt and pulled him back down. "Calm down, loser."

Kankuro sat up a little straighter, thankful that the attention was drawn away from him. "Okay, Gaara. Truth or dare?"

The youngest of the three Sabakus slightly lifted his head, expression bland. "I think," he said in his rough, low voice, "I'll opt for dare. Truth seems to have brought some destruction to my brother and sister." 

"Well, just wait and see what destruction this dare will bring to you," Kankuro said jokingly. Gaara's pupil-less eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, but he said nothing. "I dare you to draw on eyebrows."

The entire room erupted into laughter. Even Sasuke couldn't hold back his mirth, shaking with silent laughs while putting a hand over his eyes. Sai, comically confused as ever, stared at Gaara with fascination.

"You know, I never noticed that you didn't have eyebrows," he remarked. 

Gaara looked capable of mass homicide. "I'll help, if you want," Ino said nervously, not wanting to spark the redhead's further wrath. Gaara slowly turned to look at her, and some of the stiffness seemed to drain from him. He nodded wordlessly and moved to sit before her. Ino rummaged around in her purse and withdrew a brown brow pencil; she moved it toward his face, preparing to flinch back if the stoic boy reacted badly. Gaara's temper was not something to be tampered with lightly. But he sat dutifully still and allowed Ino to make a caricature out of his brows.

"My god, they're beautiful," Kiba guffawed, clutching at his sides. 

Temari studied her little brother. "You know," she said, "they don't look half-bad."

"They're almost as stunning as mine!" Lee commented.

While everyone marvelled over Gaara's newest physical development, Ino leaned in and whispered to him, "I'm sorry, I tried to make them as realistic as I could." 

Gaara turned to look at her, and from an outsider's viewpoint it would appear as though they were exchanging some secret. He looked into her own pupil-less eyes, so similarly colored to his own, and felt a tiny pang deep within his stomach. He opened his mouth, to say what he had no idea, but thought better of it and moved away.

"Thanks," he said simply. Ino nodded, chewing at her lower lip. Her eyes darted over to Sai, sitting calmly nearby and watching the entire scenario unfold. He looked expressionless as ever, seeming only curious as to what was occuring. The kid was as emotionally adept as a newborn lizard, and it pissed her off to no end. No matter what happened, she could never garner any response from him, jealous or otherwise. Even her obvious front of mooning over Sasuke didn't inspire any feelings within him.

"Sai," Gaara said in a monotone. "Truth or dare?"

With an expression as equally bland as the young Sabaku's, Sai replied, "Dare."

"Oh, this ought to be good," Shikamaru said, folding his arms behind his head. He leaned over to whisper something in Choji's ear, at which the latter chuckled. Gaara stared at them but said nothing on the matter, turning his attention back to Sai. 

"I dare you to draw a portrait of someone in the room, right now."

Sai blinked, unfazed. "All right." He withdrew his sketchbook from his backpack and propped it open. "No one move." 

While he sketched, the entire room grew silent, the only movements being those of Sai's scratching pen, some minor shifting and blinking, darting eyes. Gaara watched Ino, her eyes locked on Sai with intense focus. She was no doubt nervous. Her attraction to Sai was well-known among the group, save for the object of her affection, of course. Gaara tightened his jaw and looked away.

No more than ten minutes passed before Sai capped his pen and revealed the drawing. 

"Whoa," Shisui said in awe. "You look hella fine, Itachi."

Itachi arched one eyebrow, mildly surprised. He leaned in a bit to get a better look at himself; even though he was one of the furthest away from Sai, the brilliant young artist managed to catch all the small details about the middle Uchiha. His small three-ringed necklace, his ponytail over his shoulder, even the lines down his face. And he did look good. Sai really knew how to capture people in flattering light, even if his mouth practically tore them all down, one way or another.

"I guess so," Itachi murmured, leaning back into his seat. "Your turn, Sai."

Sai put his sketch book down on the table for people to continue gazing at, not an ounce of pride on his face for the obvious masterpiece, much to everyone's ire, and looked around the room at the remaining participants that had yet to go. His eyes landed on the Hyuga male and the white-eyed boy couldn't look more unhappy about if he tried.

"Please don't," Neji muttered, suddenly looking pained.

"Truth or dare?" Sai asked, face composed and voice even.

Neji sighed, seemingly resigning himself to his fate by sinking a little in his seat. "Dare."

Sai, without missing a beat, said, completely void of all emotion, "I dare you to take off your shirt."

There was a long moment of silence as everyone looked between the Hyuga and the artist. Like Neji, none of them seemed to appear as though they understood what was going on. Or even if they heard him correctly.

Finally, after two straight minutes of Neji and Sai staring into each other's eyes, lovingly, if you asked Naruto, Neji asked, "What?"

"I dare you to remove your shirt from your body so that your bare chest is revealed to rest of us," he says, face blank.

Neji suddenly looked pained again. Hinata let out a yelp of surprise, then blushed deeply, silently hoping that this was the extent of the nakedness for the night. But she had many fears about this particular turn of events. "That's what I thought you said." Neji muttered.

Tenten leaned down to Sasuke's ear and said, jokingly, "For some reason, I am totally okay with this. Seriously, I'm not even mad."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her with a smirk. "I bet," he murmured, shaking his head. But then he looked to Sai and asked, "For the sake of knowing, can I inquire as to why?"

Turning his level gaze to Sasuke, Sai said, in complete and irrefutable honesty, "Because I want to make tonight as uncomfortable as humanly possible." Sasuke suddenly wished he hadn't asked.

"I think I need a drink," Itachi muttered, climbing to his feet and walking from the room in search of liquor. 

"Bring me some bourbon, you slut," Shisui called after him. Itachi, without a backward glance, flipped him off over his shoulder. 

"You're drunk enough already, and that's without any booze to help you," Sasuke remarked dryly. 

"Yeah what would you know you son of a bitch, your father don't even love you!" Shisui said, eyes wide.

Sasuke looked deeply offended. "Dude!"

Shisui, the pinnacle of calm and collected, said, "This is what happens when you deny me my bourbon, bitches be getin' burned."

Sasuke stared for a long moment, mouth hung open. "What a douchey thing to say, Shisui," Tenten finally said, looking slightly amused, but trying to keep her face calm.

Shisui shrugged. "You know what else is a douchey thing to say? I bet your mother wished she'd swallowed you."

Sasuke rolled his tongue around the inside of his mouth as the rest of the boys, even including Tenten and Temari and excluding Gaara, Shino and Neji, went "Oh!" loudly and started laughing.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, but that's hilarious," Tenten said, wiping at her eyes. 

The youngest Uchiha rolled his black eyes and dug his elbow into her side reproachfully. 

"Apply ice to the burned area," Naruto said through his laughter, practically falling onto Kiba.

"You apply cold water, you idiot." Sakura rolled her eyes. 

"Actually," Hinata spoke up timidly, "since the skin will already be irritated, it's best to apply lukewarm water."

Shikamaru raised one eyebrow. "Could it be that Sakura actually got something wrong for once?"

"Watch it, pineapple head," Sakura muttered, folding her arms indignantly. 

Itachi re-entered the room, arms full of various bottles. Shisui's face lit up; he sat forward excitedly as Itachi arranged the bottles on the dining room table.

"Come on, baby, gimme the bourbon, gimme the--hell yeah!" He snatched up the bottle and cradled it close to his chest. Itachi stared at him for a moment, appearing ready to say something, but he shook his head with a heavy sigh instead and poured himself a small glass of whiskey.

"Anyone want some?" He brought the glass to his lips and swallowed the liquid with ease. Shisui didnt even bother with a glass, and instead took a swig directly from the bottle. 

"Look at you, promoting underage drinking," Sasuke quipped. But he poured himself a shot regardless, which Tenten plucked out of his hands and downed with an ease that impressed nearly every male in the room. Sasuke gave her an "are you kidding me" stare and got himself another glass.

"You know, I think you just became, like, twenty percent hotter," Kiba joked. Tenten raised her brows but said nothing. 

"Now that Itachi has returned, I believe Neji must remove his shirt," Sai said matter-of-factly, expression bland as ever. The room was filled with "ooh"s and laughter as Neji let out a long sigh.

"Do I have to?" He passed a hand over his eyes as though willing the room to disappear. 

Sai tilted his head to the side. "If you cannot do it yourself, I'm sure there is someone who would help you in your struggle."

"Ooh, baby," Kiba grinned. Sasuke cast a sidelong glance at Tenten, who gave him a warning glare.

Now looking alarmed, Neji hesitantly began undoing the buttons of his white shirt. Even Sakura and Ino couldn't help but gawk at the rather well-sculpted torso that was revealed as he shrugged off the shirt with a rather uncomfortable expression. 

"Shit, Neji, you've been holding out on us," Temari said, fanning herself. Neji sighed again and rubbed his forehead. 

"How long does this have to last?" he asked.

Sai shrugged, nonplussed. "I suppose...as long as I want." He gave a forced half-smile.

With a defeated expression, Neji leaned forward slightly, long hair falling over his shoulders. Tenten felt her face flush and tried her best not to stare. "Shisui, truth or dare?"

"Dare me, baby!" Shisui downed another gulp of bourbon. Kankuro muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "dear lord, help us." 

Neji rubbed his now bare arm. "I dare you to stop making homosexual innuendos for the rest of the game."

"No, the horror!" Shisui clutched at his heart with his free hand. "No, Neji, I beseech you, anything else!" When Neji only smiled and shook his head, Shisui fell onto his back with a pained look. "I see a light," he croaked, "a white light. Itachi, tell your mother that I always loved her baking the best!"

"Oh, stop it, you big baby," Ino said and rolled her eyes. Shisui sat up with a pout. 

"Fine, my turn." He looked at the only remaining person and grinned wolfishly, then remembered his dare and huffed. "Itachi, truth or dare?"

"Now this is gonna be good," Choji said. 

Itachi, pensive as ever, set down his glass and pushed a hand through his loose bangs. "I think truth, Shisui. I'm afraid I'm not as stupid as you think I am."

His best friend stuck his tongue out. "Fine. Let's see...what's something that even I don't know about you?"

Itachi smiled ever so slightly. He appeared thoughtful for a moment, twisting the end of his long ponytail around his index finger. Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath, waiting anxiously for his answer; the enigmatic Uchiha was never much for words. This was a once in a lifetime chance.

"All right, " he said after a moment. "I'm attracted to a girl in this room."

There was a pregnant silence, during which every female in the room sat up a little straighter, exchanging looks with one another. Well, this was a strange development. Itachi, as far as they were concerned, had never been too interested in relationships. They didn't even know if he'd ever been in one at all. 

"Well shit, bro," Shisui whistled. "About damn time! Who's the lucky lady, hm?" He leaned in close and waggled his eyebrows suggestively, panning his gaze over each of the girls in the room. 

"Only one truth this round, Shisui," Itachi said, amused. He sat back, ever the picture of suave mystery. Sakura furrowed her brow; now that she thought of it, he did look an awful lot like Sasuke, if a bit more ruggedly handsome...

"All right, everyone's gone, correct? And in Shisui's case, gone twice?" Itachi shook his head with a small smile.

"Oops," Neji muttered, rubbing his arm again. "I apologize for the error."

 

Shisui grinned innocently, holding up his hands in a "what can you do" gesture. Itachi surveyed the room to make sure before folding his arms over his chest. "That's all right, that's why we're having a second round."

No one disputed the statement, too curious as to what information the game would further reveal. 

Itachi tapped a long finger against his lips. "Hmm...Sasuke. Truth or dare? Choose wisely, little brother." He smiled a bit, and to Sasuke he looked more than a little smug. 

Tenten leaned in and whispered to the young Uchiha, "Don't let him goad you on." 

Sasuke locked eyes with his older brother. "Dare," he stated, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Or not," Tenten sighed. 

"Very well," Itachi said calmly. "I dare you to show us what your relationship with Tenten truly is. You two seem awfully chummy as of late." 

Sasuke looked surprised, if a bit relieved. He exchanged glances with Tenten. "Well, what do you think?"

The latter shrugged, totally nonplussed. She stood up and planted herself on Sasuke's lap and put one arm around his shoulder. Sakura, seated directly beside him, tried her best not to feel hurt by this sudden, unexpected display, and instead narrowed her eyes dangerously at the other female. 

"A bit to the left, Tenten," Sasuke said, making a face.

"Oops, sorry."

Itachi actually appeared slightly confused. "I'm not sure what this means."

"I'm a female bro, get me?" Tenten said simply. And by their stupified looks and Naruto's "Hah?" she could only assume that they didn't, so she explained, "We are like...buddies. No possible way for me to have a crush on him because I've been working on cracking the shell of my wet dream fuel for years, and Sasuke might be a closet homosexual." She shrugged and Sasuke glared up at her. "Plus, I'm probably more manly than most of his male friends. Just with better legs."

"Wet dream fuel, huh?" Kiba grinned, revealing his extra-sharp canines. Akamaru gave a little bark at his feet.

"Please, we all know Sasuke is a hottie," Temari sighed. She let down one of her pigtails and began retying it.

"Cougar much?" Kiba shied away from a threatening slap from Temari. "Jeez, lady, lighten up!"

"Basically, she's my best friend," Sasuke elaborated, ignoring the others' comments. Itachi caught Lee reaching up, as if subconciously, to touch his spiked-up hair, only for his hand to be smacked away by Ino. The blond's face fell easily into a warning glare.

Naruto looked offended. "Hey, what about me?"

"You're his best friend with a vagina, Naruto," Shikamaru quipped. The former growled something under his breath, to which Shikamaru only offered a lazy smile while the others laughed.

"Shikamaru seems to be in a rather hurtful mood," Lee noted. 

Gaara suddenly pinched his nose between his fingers, a disgusted look crossing his face. One by one the others noticed this and became sickeningly aware of the pungent, foul smell beginning to permeate the air. 

"Oh, dear lord, that is nasty!" Shisui waved a hand in front of his face.

Even Shino looked displeased. "The air is no longer as pleasant as before. I believe someone has just....farted."

"Choji, tell me that wasn't you," Shikamaru groaned. His best friend frowned at him and shook his head.

"If it were Choji, we'd all be dead," Kankuro said, rolling his eyes. "Don't be playin'."

"Woah, dick," Shikamaru said, looking over at Kankuro with eyes slightly wide. But Choji chuckled good naturedly.

"It's okay, Shika," Choji chuckled. "He's probably right."

Kiba looked down at the large canine seated at his feet. "Akamaru!" The dog only woofed in reponse, wagging his fan-like tail cheerfully.

Temari pinched her nose shut, grimacing. "God, Kiba what do you feed that animal?" 

"Someone open a window," Sakura gagged. Tenten scooted off Sasuke's lap to allow him to prop the nearest window open, letting in the fresh night air. There were collective sighs of relief. 

"Ugh," Ino said in a nasally voice, then took her hand away from her nose to sniff the air hesistantly. "Thank goodness."

"Right then, moving on." Itachi gestured to Sasuke. "Your turn, little brother."


	3. Piqued Interests

Sasuke looked around the room, trying to decide his next victim. He reached up one hand to run it through shaggy dark blue hair, pursing his lips slightly. Large, dark eyes, a family trait almost all Uchiha shared, zoomed in on Akamaru as the dog stretched and yawned loudly before scooting closer to Kiba and putting his large white head onto the dog-loving boy's lap. Kiba just stared at Sasuke, not seeming to notice Akamaru's shift in position.

"Hm," Sasuke hummed to himself, drawing his eyes away to move on. They landed on Choji, who pulled his phone out for a moment to check it, before tossing on the table, as if to rid himself of the distraction. Finally, he turned his eyes to the eldest Sabaku sibling; her large teal eyes stared back at him intensely.

"Temari," Sasuke said smoothly.

The corners of her lips quirked up. "Yes, handsome?" Shikamaru scowled.

Sasuke smirked a little, letting out a huff of a laugh. "Truth or dare?" he inquired.

She didn't miss a beat. "Dare."

Sasuke hummed under his breath, eyes rolling back and forth from one side of his vision to the other, thinking up a good dare. Well, he wasn't sure it was a "good" dare, but it was something he wanted to know. Temari was always a real in-depth thinker, it was one of the things he liked about her, but she tended to hold back her thoughts unless she was mad, then whoever she was talking to would get a real scathing.

"No one can get mad," Sasuke warned, staring into Temari's eyes. "I dare you to tell one person, anyone in the room, something that you either really like about them or something that really annoys you about them."

Kankuro flinched hard. "This is going to hurt."

"Bad," Gaara muttered in agreement. Temari looked over at them, two thin blond eyebrows pull together, insulted.

"How do you know I'm not going to say something nice. If I recall correctly, and am not suddenly experiencing black outs, Sasuke did say something that I might like about someone."

"Yeah," Shikamaru grunted in agreement. "Unfortunately for you, we've all met you and we know how this is going to end."

"Seriously," Shisui said, eyes wide. "Are you going to say anything to Hinata?"

Temari, who was glaring at the shirker, looked over at Shisui confused. "What? No, why?"

Shisui whipped around to look at Hinata. "Leave, Innocent One!"

Hinata jumped, blinking rapidly, wondering how she suddenly became the topic of this conversation. Her eyes flickered between Shisui and the equally confused Temari. The eldest Sabaku sibling's eyebrows are pulled together, also wondering what this had to do with the girl with the lilac-colored eyes.

"Um... w-what?" Hinata asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Out!" Shisui yelled, making Hinata jump. "Such delicate ears can not hear this verbal beat down!"

Kiba choked on his laugh while Temari narrowed her eyes dangerously. Hinata looked around, confused for a moment, before Shisui stood up and gave her a look. Hinata jumped to her feet and quickly ran from the room. Shisui stood there for a moment, listening to her footsteps retreating up the stairs. He finally lowered himself back down onto the couch next to Itachi.

"Alright," Shisui said, smiling sweetly. "You may continue, my beautiful-yet-slightly-psychotic, blond-haired Sabaku."

"'Slightly'?" Shikamaru scoffed. "Are you trying to butter her up for something?"

Shisui rolled his eyes. Itachi turned slightly to stare at him. "Sending Hinata upstairs, Shisui? Really? Was that necessary?"

"No," he admitted, then let out a laugh, "but that was hilarious to see, right?"

Itachi gave him a bland look.

"Anyway," Temari stressed, glaring around the room, daring anyone to speak up against her again, "so I would pick..." her eyes roamed the room one more time before landing on the pale pink haired girl. "Sakura-chan."

Sakura's eyes widen in horror, silently cursing her horrible luck. She caught the sympathetic eyes of Lee and Kankuro and pursed her lips before turning her attention to the older blond-haired woman. Squaring her shoulders and tilting her chin up, she said, in a somewhat uneven voice, "I'm ready."

"Sakura," Shisui said slowly, pulling jade green eyes over to him. He bowed his head a little bit toward the girl. "It was... really nice knowing you. I'll miss you."

Sakura paled a little while Temari sent a glare his way.

"Shut up, Shisui," Naruto mumbled, eyes wide, looking between the two girls with a mixed look of worry and intrigue.

"Seriously, shut up," Temari said, then to Sakura, "Listen, I'm just going to tell you this straight up, okay? No filter."

Sakura flinched, nodding slowly. "That's what I'm afraid of," she admitted.

Temari smiled faintly, like a silent apology, before a neutral look fell on her face. "I think that you are one of the sweetest girls in the world, but the thing that just rubs me the wrong way is that you don't seem to understand that we like you. Most of us have known you for as long as we can remember and you feel like we are dumb enough to think this fake attitude is legit."

Sakura raised an eyebrow and tiltied her head, not understanding.

"I know you, Sakura," Temari said simply. "I've seen you drop anything and everything to help one of us out. One on one, I've seen you act... normal with all of us. You're sweet and genuine and kind and so real and then when we all gather together, you become so... fake. You're fluttering lashes and dreamy looks, and you think we don't notice the difference.

"Sorry, Sakura, but we do. And it annoys the hell out of me. I don't know who put it in your head, I'm assuming it's your mom, that you have to act like this in front of everyone," Temari said, shaking her head. "I know it's all an act, I think I can say for most of us, that we all can see it's an act. I just don't know who you think you're dealing with."

Sakura flushed deeply in embarrassment. She fidgeted a bit, looking like she wanted to sink into the ground. She wrapped her arms around herself and chewed on her bottom lip.

"I don't like that your mom makes you feel like you have to be the most annoying, boy-obsessed girl in the room. I don't like that you force yourself to believe you have to be that person with us. You act fake because you think that's what boys want - or I could be reading too much into this, but maybe that's your way of getting back at your mom, being so sweet individually, but in a group, you act like the most annoying person alive. I don't know."

There are physical flinches around the room. Temari's words are met with silence. She stared at Sakura for almost an entire minute in silence with a look on her face that plainly told that she wasn't done with her verbal beat down.

"But this isn't you. Being the flirtatious girl isn't even your major priority. You only act like that when you remember, not all the time, that's how I know it's all a big ole' lie. So stop thinking that the rest of us are idiots and stop being so god dammed rude to yourself. I know I'm going to sound like the stereotypical feminist for a moment so brace yourselves but here goes," Temari said, leaning forward in her seat to look down at Sakura with narrowed eyes. "Are you ready?"

Sakura nodded mutely, not having the will power to try and shake the block that had formed from her throat.

"Good," Temari said seriously. "But you don't need a man to make yourself more appealing. You know this, that's why you're so smart. Med-school colleges are practically crawling all over themselves to get their hands on you. No man helped you achieve that. Only you. You and that freakishly big brain of yours."

Sakura flushed deeply, looking down at her lap. "I know..."

"I don't know who told you that you had to be like this, but it needs to stop, because I love you Sakura, but if you keep fluttering those lashes as annoyingly fake-flirtatious as you have been, I'm going to rip them off, lash by lash," Temari said sickeningly sweet, smiling. To add affect, she fluttered her eyelashes, staring down at Sakura.

The pink haired girl let out a bark of a laugh, not seeming to be too offended. "I know... I'm sorry, guys," she looked around the room, blushing, "I just haven't been able to fully shaky the habit that formed. And I'm not going to blame anyone, it's my fault that I let myself become this way. I'll try harder to just be myself."

"Or," Ino said, smiling at her long time best friend, "you could strive for a less annoying version of yourself?"

Sakura gave her an annoyed look. "Shut up, Pig." She looked away before Ino could retort with her usual, "Billboard brow!" to look at the rest of her friends. "Thanks for putting up with me. I'll be better from now on." She grins brightly. "Promise!"

Temari grinned, standing up and holding her arms out for Sakura. The pink haired girl blushed again but pushed herself to her feet and walked into the eldest girl's arms. Temari squeezed the pink-haired girl to her tightly, pulling away once only to ask, "You know I love, you annoying pink-haired bitch, right?"

Sakura laughed, hugging the girl again. "I do. Thanks, Temari."

"Free hugs!" Naruto yelled, jumping to his feet and throwing his arms around the two girls from behind. Sakura laughed while Temari flicked Naruto in the forehead to distract him long enough to pull away.

"Alright, Shisui," Temari said, pulling away and collapsing back in her seat, turning large blue eyes over to the eldest Uchiha in the room, "as the winner of the prestigious fucktard of the year award, it's your turn to choose: truth or dare?"

Lee had to give the dark-haired boy credit for keeping a strong face.

"Do your worst," Shisui grunted, eyes squinting as if in pain.

Temari's smile turned chilling. "Pick dare and I will."

"Oh, snap!" Kiba leaned forward with wide, excited eyes. "Kick his ass, Temari."

Shisui suddenly looked as though he was in pain. "Ehhh..." he trailed off with this strangely constipated look on his face, glancing around the room as if hoping someone would help him. His best friend and cousin offered a solid, "I'll remember you, brother," before taking a swig from his drink. 

"Um..." Hinata's timid voice sounds from the top of the stairs. "Can I come back down, please?"

"Oh, that poor girl," Tenten sighed as the room exploded with laughter.

"Yes, Hinata," Itachi called. 

The pale girl drifted into the room and took a seat once more. "All right, back to business," Temari said, rubbing her hands together. "Come on, Shisui. Truth or dare?"

"The way I see it..." The older Uchiha tapped a finger against his lips, leaning back to stare up at the ceiling with a contemplative expression. "If I pick dare, I'm fucked. If I pick truth, I'm fucked. So..."

"Either way, you're fucked," Shikamaru smirked. Temari gave him an appreciative look.

"Oh, who's a good Nara?" Shisui crooned. "Good boy, you're so smart. Do you want a cookie?"

Before Shikamaru could do anything more than raise his eyebrows, Sai spoke up. He had been so quiet, he startled a few of the others. "I believe you're stalling, Shisui."

"Oh, you're damn right."

Sakura shook her head and sighed. "Pathetic." 

"Oh, my dear Sakura, how you wound me!" Shisui sat forward once again, grabbed a bottle from the table and took a long swig. "All right, fine. Dare me, woman."

"He's so toast," Kiba muttered to Naruto. Kankuro shook his head, but couldn't keep the smirk from curving his lips. He had never particularly liked the snarky Uchiha, or the comments he made about his sister. Watching this was sure to be entertaining; Temari would make him suffer. 

"I dare you," she said, and paused for suspense, "to kiss the person in this room that you find most attractive. And none of that prissy cheek shit that Ino pulled earlier. Plant one right," she tapped her lips with a finger, "here."

There were collective "oo"s all around, exchanges of raised eyebrows. Ino found herself fiddling with her long blond ponytail, smoothing it and tossing it back over her shoulder, and immediately stopped. Sai watched her curiously. He tilted his head left, then right, contemplating. Gaara, noticing the boy's focus, tried his best to keep his expression as bland as ever. 

"This outta be good," Naruto said, rubbing his hands together with anticipation. Sasuke couldn't help but agree with a silent nod. There were many things he knew about his cousin, but romantic interests were not among them. Sure, he liked to tease and make flirtatious quips at all of the girls in the group, but he had never displayed obvious interest in any of them. He suddenly found himself watching Sakura from out of the corner of his eye. She was seated so close he could smell the perfume wafting off of her every time she made a move, and it smelled...good. Really good. He gave himself a mental shake and returned his attention to Shisui. 

The elder Uchiha stood up and began circling the room, and Gaara attributed the movements to that of a vulture preparing to swoop in on its meal of the day. Both he and his brother watched him closely, prepared to spring into action if he so much as touched a hair on Temari's head. 

"Come on, Shisui," Itachi said, swirling the contents of his drink. "I think the tension has mounted enough."

"Ha, says you." The other Uchiha barked a laugh and smirked slyly. He circled the room again before stopping directly behind Sakura. The girl froze instantly, heart pounding loudly in her ears. Shisui smiled to himself and took a few steps away from her, saw her shoulders slump as she visibly relaxed, and that was when he moved in front of her, crouched down, and pressed a kiss to her lips. 

The entire room seemed to fill with a new kind of tension. Shisui put a hand on the back of Sakura's neck, pressing her closer, but kept the other motionless atop his thigh. Everyone watched silently. Temari sat back a bit, blinking with a mixture of satisfaction and surprise. She had guessed awhile back that he had a soft spot for the Haruno. Her eyes flicked to Sasuke, then Itachi, and she had to restrain a smirk. It looked like Shisui wasn't the only Uchiha with a certain soft spot. 

Things were going to get very interesting. 

Shisui broke away after a few seconds, gave the shocked Sakura a wink, and returned to his seat. "How was that, sweet cheeks? I bet I rocked your world."

The tension eased up slightly as a number of scoffs sounded. Sasuke's brow furrowed with irritation. Itachi sat very still, looking almost as deadpan as Gaara, and watched Sakura closely. Naruto leaned forward with barely contained excitement, almost certain that Sakura would spring to her feet any moment and deliver an astounding punch to the eldest Uchiha. 

"Yeah, how was it, Sakura?" Temari smirked ever so slightly.

After a brief pause, Sakura opened her mouth. "You know," she said slowly, hating the heat that was rising to her cheeks, "he's actually really good at that." 

"Oh, hell yes!" Shisui pumped his fist in the air. 

"I wonder what her basis for comparison is," Ino muttered under her breath. 

Tenten gave Sasuke a nudge. "I wonder if that runs in the family," she teased, ruffling his hair.

He looked at her with half-lidded eyes and smirked. "You itching to find out?" 

Neji cleared his throat. "It's Shisui's turn," he said shortly, narrowing his ghostly eyes at the older man. 

Shisui didn't seem to notice Neji's sudden change in attitude, and instead opted to sit back and put his hands behind his head, the epitome of nonchalance. Neither was he aware of the fact that his elder cousin seemed rather stiff, resolving to stare at his drink intently, one arm draped over the edge of the couch. Sakura cleared her throat softly as she noticed numerous sets of eyes on her and willed herself not to blush. She wanted to look at Sasuke, try to detect whether or not that kiss had garnered any response from him, but decided against it-- Temari's advice still permeated her ears. She would not write herself off as a lovesick, smitten schoolgirl. Not now, and not ever again. 

"Let's see," Shisui said, leaning forward once again. He surveyed the room with his dark eyes and grinned wickedly. "Who shall be my next victim?"


End file.
